Avoid this service

[docbill]

I made the mistake of signing my wife up for this service.

We signed her up for the $20 + $8 plan for 100 minutes of calling, unlimited text messaging, and unlimited data browsing. I paid an extra $12 down, just so she had a balance for things not covered. It was also suppose to give her a bonus amount for outside of plan of another $12 or so. (I don't remember the exact amount.)

The next day I logged in the next day and saw her balance was $1.95. I called to find out what happens. It turns out the greedy bastards change $0.15 per text message to the US. Now come on. We all know texting has a neglishable cost. This is just plain greedy. To make it worse, they have no information their website to show where your balance is going to. I counted her text messages from her log, and she did $10 worth of texting to the US, not $22. So we didn't get our bonus funds either. They don't give you any sort of transaction history to show why the deduct money from your account. They also block the internet, so you can't use programs like TextMe.

These guys are snake oil salesmen. Don't use them.

Bill

[fefrie]

I made the mistake of signing my wife up for this service.

We signed her up for the $20 + $8 plan for 100 minutes of calling, unlimited text messaging, and unlimited data browsing. I paid an extra $12 down, just so she had a balance for things not covered. It was also suppose to give her a bonus amount for outside of plan of another $12 or so. (I don't remember the exact amount.)

The next day I logged in the next day and saw her balance was $1.95. I called to find out what happens. It turns out the greedy bastards change $0.15 per text message to the US. Now come on. We all know texting has a neglishable cost. This is just plain greedy. To make it worse, they have no information their website to show where your balance is going to. I counted her text messages from her log, and she did $10 worth of texting to the US, not $22. So we didn't get our bonus funds either. They don't give you any sort of transaction history to show why the deduct money from your account. They also block the internet, so you can't use programs like TextMe.

These guys are snake oil salesmen. Don't use them.

Bill

That's what you get for not reading the terms of service.

There is no such thing as unlimited data browsing. You can't browse data. You browse websites. Data is used by apps. PC only has unlimited browsing.

Show me an unlimited data plan for $8 and I will sign up in an instant. You'll probably complain next that skype and voip don't work on your phone and that calls to the US are charged at long distance rates.

FYI in future, think of texts to the US as LONG DISTANCE TEXTS.

Of COURSE an actual text message to the states doesn't cost 15c. That's how they make money.

Funny thing is, you'll probably keep your plan, because there is nothing cheaper out there!

[o2qc418]

PC have unlimited data ( now is 2GB with their tos but is excellent ! ) ... with full internet.com access ... a little tricks work with speakout and pc ;p !

[fefrie]

PC have unlimited data ( now is 2GB with their tos but is excellent ! ) ... with full internet.com access ... a little tricks work with speakout and pc ;p !

How can unlimited be capped at 2gb? That's like saying free with $2 service charge

The word data is never mentioned. http://mobility.petro-canada.ca/en/features/380.aspx

[Stéphane Genève]

That's what you get for not reading the terms of service.

There is no such thing as unlimited data browsing. You can't browse data. You browse websites. Data is used by apps. PC only has unlimited browsing.

Show me an unlimited data plan for $8 and I will sign up in an instant. You'll probably complain next that skype and voip don't work on your phone and that calls to the US are charged at long distance rates.

FYI in future, think of texts to the US as LONG DISTANCE TEXTS.

Funny thing is I'm certain on the page I signed up on it said unlimited text to the US and Canada, and it even showed a map. But later when I went back it clearly said Canadian text messages and there was no map. Both my wife and I saw it, so I am fairly confident it might have been there. Maybe it still is there, the page I can browse to now is not the same page you go though when doing the activation process...

But even assuming I was mistaken, it is a criminally high rate to charge. A text message is what? 50 bytes of data? Even more outragious is to deduct money from the account without reporting what the charges are for. I still don't know what happened to that bonus money that was suppose to be on the account. Even criminals keep books...

Of COURSE an actual text message to the states doesn't cost 15c. That's how they make money.

Funny thing is, you'll probably keep your plan, because there is nothing cheaper out there!

Not true. Telus gave me unlimited text to Canada and the US for $5 per month. I will put my wife back on them. Here average bill was just the $11.30 top-up. The only reason I decided to switch her to petro-canada is because she wanted to use data, and Telus's rates for that seemed excessive. But given a choice between not having texting to the US, and not having web browsing, she'll probably decide on having texting. With here average cost of $12/day for texting with petro-canada there is no way I'll be able to afford to keep her on that plan.

The one thing I will do first though is see if she can run openvpn to allow textme to work. If so, then she can probably stick with petro-canada and do her texting with that. But of course, the problem there is even it works, petro-canada may decide that is a violation their terms of service and cancel her account unexpectedly.

[fefrie]

<facepalm>"Data" is distinctly different from "Mobile Browsing". There is no such thing as a data plan with PC whether it be unlimited or not.</facepalm>

Mobile browsing has restricted port usage, whereas "data" does not.

You cannot use "data based" texting apps on a Mobile browsing plan. It might work, but most likely it will not.

[fefrie]

Key words. MOBILE BROWSING. 15C TEXT TO USA AND 35C ELSEWHERE. Canada-Wide Outgoing Text Messages

http://mobility.petro-canada.ca/en/i...d=595-monthly2

Petrocanada would like an apology


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If your Monthly Plan services are used up before your expiry date, you can still use your phone as you normally would, but the following out-of-plan service rates will apply:Out-of-plan service calling rate is 30 cents per minute
Long distance calling rate from anywhere in Canada to anywhere in the US is 25 cents per minute, on top of the Canada-wide calling rate
Outgoing Text Messages are 15 cents to the US and 35 cents anywhere else in the world


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[docbill]

So let me get this straight, you feel it is OK for them to lie and say your SIM card purchase includes a $2.50 credit but doesn't. It is OK for them to promice a $13 bonus for setting your top-up to $40/month instead of just the $28 cost of your monthly plan, but then not include it. To call the service unlimited web browsing, but then hide deep within their terms of service that if you use more than 2GB in a month they may immediately cancel your service... Lets see, the average HD video is about 1GB/hour. So that means if my wife browsers facebook once each day, and plays a 10 minute video someone posts on their wall, within 2 weeks she we be disconnected for using too much bandwidth on her unlimited plan?

Since I can't get back to the activation page top-up messages again without buying another SIM card, really I just have to go based on what is on the rest of the sight. Based on that it is my bad for not noticing the texting fee. I still think it is also criminal that they do not itemize the charges that are taken off the balance. I counted her text messages for the day, and there were enough to account for $10 worth of charges. That with the $28 plan fee, leaves the balance at $2. Just what they showed. So there was no $2.50 credit for the SIM activation, and there was no $13 credit for topping up at $40. I see once you activate if you go back to change your top-up they no longer offer the extra credit for higher amounts. So it is very likely they discontinued that special. But if I paid with a bonus offer be advertised, I certainly should get it... Since however there is no detailed accounting, I could not even prove in court or to my credit card company that the ripped me off, with serving papers to have them release their books.

[fefrie]

You were wrong about the text messaging, so you are probably wrong about everything else. Post links about the 2gb limit and the promo bonus or shut up.

But even if there was a 2gb limit on BROWSING (not data) if it were charged at the same rate as other plans which charge $10/100mb, then that 2gb is worth $200. Can you please show me a data plan that charges $10 for 2GB?

Browsing WILL NOT allow for streaming of HD video.

If you are that unhappy with PC FFS switch, go back to koodo, but you whine that they're too expensive, so the switch to Wind, or Mobi, they have plans that do everything you want for $29 but you'll probably complain that their coverage sucks.

Basically you're wanting something for nothing.

Oh lord, I thought that I was cheap.

ps, if you use protocols that circumvent the TOS of a company, then that pretty well disallows you from complaing about the TOS of said company.

[yuprules]

I love people who don't even read beyond the first line of the website:

http://mobility.petro-canada.ca/en/features/401.aspx
Outgoing text messages are 10 cents within Canada, 15 cents to the US and 35 cents anywhere else in the world.

The site never says Unlimited data, it says unlimited BROWSING.

Petro Canada is not a replacement for a heavy smartphone user who is coming from Telus, Bell or Rogers. This is for light users who need some surfing (you can hack it to do other apps in Android) and pre-paid calling.

My wife is a very light user, maybe 30 minutes a month and 20 texts a month...best deal is pre-paid Petro Canada Mobility for that. Never had any issues with coverage (it's Rogers) or topping up online.

[docbill]

Looks like I do need to apollogize. In the one month since I have posted this thread, my wife has done a 180 and loves Petro Canada. While I still feel ripped off do to the lack of promised bonuses and non-transparent accounting, she is happy and it here account. I have her set to an automatic top-up of exactly the cost of her plan, so there can be no more surprised billings.

Personally, I will stick to using Telus. But since my wife is the customer, not me, and she is happy then I have no grounds to complain.